Beginning of the End
by The Deb of Night
Summary: Every legend has a beginning, even the legendary Fledgling of the City of Angels. This legend begs the question of just how close you can be to the World of Darkness before it embraces you. A Prequel to Chronicles of a Former Cammy Do Girl
1. Prologue

Large Disclaimer on Profile.  
I do not own any of the characters in Kindred: the Embraced or Masquerade: Bloodlines.  
I do own Shayne Emerson.  
Read,Review, and Enjoy!  
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"What the hell is this, this bullshit," she fumes as she snapped the newspaper down onto the desk looking at the wide eyed blonde with a heated expression. "The Rise and Fall of a Rock and Roll Legend, he gave up the dream. Lady did you bother to check you facts with this or did you just write whatever dribble you thought would get readers attention?" Slamming her hand down on the paper she narrowed her eyes until they were nothing more than slits before she shook her head. "My grandmother picked up the paper and read this shit because you printed it before the family was notified."

Catlin Byrne, City Editor for the San Francisco Times, didn't know what to say or do at that moment and time. She had never seen anyone so angry and the fact that this woman didn't seem to be backing off any was alarming, she had found her story about the rock star Zane to be a riveting piece but it seemed as if some people didn't hold journalistic integrity in such high respects. Taking a step back she continued to look on at the woman trying to gather her thoughts enough that she could find something comforting to say or at least something that would sooth the monster in front of her.

In effect the monster before her was only nineteen years old but Shayne Emerson had no intention of backing off or backing away from the reporter. She didn't care if it had been a respected story or if it had been the piece of the century, what she cared about was the fact this woman was making her brother out to be some kind of monster and a quitter. To make matters worse she had gotten a frantic phone call from her grandmother earlier in the morning asking if she had seen the paper, Shayne of course hadn't but when she finally got a copy of it she had seen what the problem was. It had been three weeks since she had heard from Zane, but he'd been in good spirits when she had talked to him last and looking forward to performing. With little thought of effort Shayne reached across the desk and grabbed the collar of the blonde shirt before she pulled her forward so that her face was only inches from Shayne's.

"I don't give a damn if you're the Barbara Walter's of the Times, when I'm finished with you Ms. Byrne you'll be lucky if you can find anyone to let you print the horoscopes. Till we meet again though you have a nice day," Shayne snapped before letting the woman go and giving her a good shove for measure, smirking as the woman landed half in her chair and half struggling not to fall to the floor. "The lesson in this for you is that you should be careful of what you write but more so what you print, since you never know whose going to read it."

___________________

"She was horrible Julian but I think she was serious about what she said too," Catlin said.

To Lillie Langtry it sounded more as if she were whining than anything else, upset that someone had gotten the upper hand on her or was threatening to tarnish her spotless image. Granted she could understand Zane's concern she had known before embracing him that he was one a native of Hollywood, two he had a family though he was only close with his younger sister and his grandmother, and three Zane obviously wasn't his real name. The last being a fact that Catlin hadn't taken into effect when she had printed her story, casting a look to Julian she shrugged her shoulders as inwardly the Toreador Primogen was thrilled. For once her Prince's precious human pet had gone to far and there would be no way he could reason this one out, it was up to her to be the graceful savior in this instance and she was more than willing to step into the role.

"Oh Dear, Catlin I am so sorry but I'm afraid that sounds like Zane's little sister, Shayne and they were terribly close." Lillie started. "You can just imagine what a shock she got when her grandmother called her and told her the news of what had happened. I'm sure I can sit down and talk to her before she does anything drastic," or after she had done something drastic, either or it didn't matter much to Lillie so long as she could put Catlin in her place. "The poor dear must be wondering around the city terrified and frightened Julian."

Catlin blinked and looked across the table at the dark haired owner of The Haven. "Terrified and frightened, I don't know if this girl knows the meaning of the words. Chances are she's out there trying to dig up dirty on me." Catlin remarked before she looked toward Julian. "What are we going to do?"

"We?" He asked as if perplexed as to what he had to do with this, his anger was boiling over at Catlin's self centered attitude and Lillie wasn't completely out of the woods either but he could understand her concern. Zane had been her favored childe and his Final Death had been hard on her, saving his sister might have been some form of redemption. "Lillie I want you to talk to Cash and have him help you to look for Ms. Emerson, I agree with you in that she must be very upset and probably wondering around the city aimlessly."

"Yes we Julian, you let me print the article," Catlin countered.

"I assumed that you had checked your facts and to be frank with you Catlin I am appalled that you didn't," he stated before he turned his attention back to Lillie. "I think it would be best for you to go talk to Cash now rather than waiting any later Lillie, the sooner that she can be found the safer she'll be." Someone that was as relentless as the Nosferatu and still human could endanger the Masquerade, but it also left him to wonder if she would be as easy to deceive as what other humans were. "If I were you Catlin I would think about going to the Hollywood Hills and apologizing to Elizabeth Emerson."

"The actress, from the 20's. She was Zane's grandmother?" asked Catlin as she twisted a strand of hair around her finger. "I didn't know that."

Lillie looked over before she slid out of her seat and rose, straightening the dress she was wearing and soothing out the wrinkles in it. "Of course you didn't, had you checked facts and asked questions instead of assuming Zane to be some sort of drifter you would have found out the truth." So she was still a little bitter and hell hath no fury like a Toreador scorned, well unless she did make the trek to Hollywood and then Lillie was certain Catlin would find out what pure evil looked like.

_________________

"Don't worry Grandma I'll find out what happened to him," Shayne said as she leaned against the wall next to the payphone. "I paid that reporter chick a visit and asked her what she was thinking." Flicking the ash from her cigarette down onto the ground she cast a look around before she rolled her neck from side to side. "She looked kind of like a deer caught in the headlights of a car and then she had the nerve to look offended when I called what she had written bullshit." Smiling in the darkness she rolled her eyes before clearing her throat. "Well what else do you want me to call it because it wasn't Pulitzer Prize winning material?" There was a lull in the conversations as the youth looked down at her fingernails. "Don't worry Grandma I'll be alright, I can take care of my self but I'm not leaving until I have answers."

Hanging the phone up and stepping out of the phone booth Shayne tossed her cigarette down and crushed it with the heel of her sneakers before she looked around the darkened street. Pulling the heavy leather coat tighter around herself she started to walk along the sidewalk, taking in the sleeping businesses and wondering if her brother had at one time walked the same path that she herself were walking. A part of her doubted that since even in youth he hadn't been much for walking to see the sights so much as he had been the type that enjoyed cruising around and looking for girls or indulging in dope. Shayne on the other hand preferred the night, it made things come alive, the colors seemed to be more vibrant and lively and the sounds were different more unique at night.

In all honesty she couldn't wrap her mind around the whole idea of her brother having committed suicide on a train track, being arrested she would have bought but not this. He had enjoyed his life far too much and in the end Zane just wanted to make music, unless of course it was drug related and just assumed to be a suicide. If it were drugs than Shayne could have accepted that, he'd always had a problem with it and it had constantly been a source of conflict. She herself had her own vices, caffeine, nicotine, and sex, all of which were lethal in their own right and she could give up one but never all three so she tended to alternate between them. Zane, or rather Daniel, as he had been known to their family, he'd always had a problem with women and drugs but they had been so sure getting his big break would clean him up for a while. Bottom line was that she smelt something rotten with this entire thing, something very rotten, which was why she planned on her next stop being the police station. A look at the records and reports that they had involving the incident wouldn't hurt and maybe it would shine some light onto something that she hadn't thought of already.

_______________

Cash was exhausted, he had been driving around the city all night looking for Shayne and he had yet to find her. He had gone to the police station to see if maybe she had been arrested and to fill Sonny in on the situation and that had been where he had found her. Locked in a battle of wits with Frank and judging by the baffled expression on his face it looked like Shayne was winning that battle.

"So your telling me that a man walks onto a train track, takes his own life and you don't bother to take a photograph, record what happened, file any reports or records, you just what go back on a coffee and doughnut break,' Shayne asked lifting an eyebrow. "Wow and here I thought that the cops in LA were lazy pricks, you make them look dedicated and hard working."

Frank grimaced before he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets; she had a look that could cut right through you. "I'm telling you that I don't have the records."

She held her hand up before he could say anything else and rose from the chair looking down at him. "You're lying to me too, according to the cop at the desk you were the lead investigator on this case. Now I'm going to go and find a hotel for the night, when I come back bright and early in the morning I expect you to have those files for me alright." Leaving no room or time for him to speak or ask questions Shayne pivoted on her heels and left, slamming the squad room door behind her.

"Problems Frank?" Cash mused as he took the seat Shayne had previously been occupying. "Sounds like she read you the riot act and then racked your balls while she was at it, but don't take it personally that's just the way she is."

"She wanted the police reports on Zane and I don't have any of them," Frank replied before she shrugged his shoulders. "Even if I did I'm not sure that she would buy the fact he just stood on the train tracks and let the train hit him."

Cash looked across the table before he leaned forward. "She will believe that what remains were left had high traces of heroin in them and he passed out though, she knew he had a drug problem in life but Frank and this is the important part. Shayne is smart don't go babbling about us to her because if you do she might get suspicious about things and someone might get the wrong idea." He snickered before the Gangrel Primogen stood and smirked widely at Frank Kohanek. "I think she has a little too much of that old Hollywood charm, either that or she is really just that pissed off about all of this."

"Or she's suffering from PMS, but honestly and you need to tell Luna this I could have busted her for that gun that she's backing." Frank explained, he could have busted her for it if he had noticed it before she walked out of the police station.

"No you can't it's registered to her, she has a permit to pack it or at least that was what Zane said when I asked him about it," Cash explained as he continued to smirk, a part of him really enjoyed seeing Frank being put into his place or it was simply because he had a soft spot for his former best-friends little sister. "Leave her alone Frank, while she isn't protect by the Kindred of this city she's a lot like you." Cash said, leaving the cop with the ominous warning.

_______________________

Walking along the streets of San Francisco and not really worrying where it was that she was going Shayne continued to let her mind wonder. Pondering things such as why it was that her brother would take his own life, why he hadn't called her when he reached that critical breaking point, and more importantly why people seemed to act as if there were some huge secret in it all. If it was a simple suicide wouldn't it just be easier to give her the information and let her mourn in peace, the moment the sun came up the next day she was going to start checking around. Zane's apartment, the club he always played at, and if she got no answers there she would start hounding his friends until they talked to her.

Either way, the bottom line was that she wasn't going back to Hollywood until she had an answer even if it killed her.


	2. Chapter One

"I don't know." … "I went to the police station, they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about and told me they didn't have any police reports of the incident." … Well I thought it was odd too but that doesn't change the fact I'm getting the run around." … "No I don't want you to come up here and help me look for information, I think I scare them enough on my own." … "I'll call you in a couple of days or send you an email."

Try as she might it was hard to make her friend, Samantha, understand that this was something she had to do on her own and having her there would only slow her down. Still it was nice to know that someone cared enough to want to come help considering that morning Shayne had woken up and felt lonely and empty as she stared at the rising sun in the sky. Just doing a quick run through of some of Zane's haunts had made her miss LA, but that had a lot to do with the fact they had completely different taste in the company that they kept. Zane preferred the finer things in life while Shayne liked to get down and dirty frequenting places like The Last Round, it was why brother and sister had drifted apart the older they had gotten but in a pinch they were always there for the other.

"You bastard," Shayne said to no as she rolled over and pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Seriously Daniel what the hell were you thinking and on a train track," she muttered to the empty room a she searched for the crumpled pack of cigarettes that she had left on the nightstand the night before. Still muttering when the phone ran Shayne lifted an eyebrow; no one knew where she was staying aside from her Grandmother and Samantha. "Hello."

____________________________

Elizabeth Emerson looked over her shoulder and into the sitting room before she turned her eyes back down toward the telephone. "That reporter showed up here, she wants to talk about what she did." Normally the elderly woman would have done as she pleased but in this instance she thought it wise to call her granddaughter. "What do you want me to do, talk to her or you want me to send her back to you Shay?"

"No go ahead and talk to her, maybe while she's out of her office I can dig up some information," Shayne answered, her voice sounding muffled as she were moving around the room or holding the phone at an awkward angle. "Just don't tell her anything about Daniel, make her tell you things Grandma, you know like you use to do Grandpa."

"Alright," Elizabeth replied putting the phone back down onto it's cradle, in the last year she had found herself deferring more and more to her granddaughter.

The Emerson family had lost so much in such a short amount of time, and yet the remaining members had strived and flourished. Well most of them, although she couldn't be certain how well Shayne would hold it together the closer that she got to finding out the truth about her brother. Lifting the phone a second time as she checked to make sure that Catlin had remained seated, Elizabeth took a deep breath and then sighed listening to one ring, then another, and finally a third before someone picked up.

"Romero speaking."

"Tell Isaac that I need to see him as soon as possible tonight." Elizabeth whispered before she furrowed her brow, she was a filthy dirty liar and she had been for years. "It's Elizabeth."

"Yes Ma'am Mrs. Emerson I'll tell him as soon as the sun goes down."

Hanging up she straightened her clothing before she disappeared back into the sitting room, eyeing the blonde woman cautiously. Something about her didn't appear to be trustworthy or that might have simply been Elizabeth herself and the fact that the woman knew her days were slowly going to be numbered. She could feel the heavy black blanket of death wrapping her in its warm embrace and it had been part of the reason that she had sent Shayne to San Francisco; it was her final gift to her granddaughter for her not to be present when she passed away. Taking her place in the high backed chair the aging woman looked on before clearing her throat.

"You wished to speak to me?"

"Yes Ma'am I believe yesterday a member of your family came into my office about an article I had printed in the newspaper," Catlin began still thinking back to the angry woman and her haunting words. "I wanted to apologize, I didn't check my facts as well as I should have and I didn't realize that Zane had a living family."

It was apparent that the woman didn't believe a word that she was saying but Elizabeth had merely continued to allow her to talk. "Yes that was my granddaughter Shayne, I'm afraid in my fragile health I called her in a panic when I read the article. She read it and took the whole thing a bit too personal but that's Shayne. She and Daniel or I suppose you know him as Zane, they had such different personalities."

"How so," questioned Catlin.

"Well Daniel was always attracted to the finer things in life, but more than anything he wanted to simply make music and entertain people with his words. Though he did have a nasty obsession with thinking he was something like Jim Morrison." Elizabeth reached for her coffee cup and brought it to her lips taking a drink before she finished speaking. "Shayne on the other hand bless her heart she's always been the rebel of the family, the black sheep if you will. Her mother thought she was just a miscreant but she's passionate, idealistic, and a tad bit out spoken at times." Not to mention cunning, manipulative, resourceful, and most of all when her temper flared Shayne was dangerous and Elizabeth often worried that would end up being her greatest downfall.

It seemed to Catlin as if they had been night and day but she was afraid to say that. "She was very upset yesterday when she came into my office and honestly I can't blame her for that, but I do wish there was something I could do to help her." Maybe something that she could do that would get her the hell out of the city and away from anyone, namely Julian, before she lost her job. "Mrs. Emerson could you answer something for me."

"No I can't, I am afraid that your time here is up now Ms. Byrne but I will leave you with a final bit of parting advice. Till the storm blows over and the dust settles stay clear of my granddaughter, with all the tragedy that poor baby has faced in her life I think loosing her brother may have finally sent her over the edge and I would hate for you to be her target," more than she already was anyway. "You may show yourself out."

_______________________________

The reporter's office and her house had been a bust; Shayne had found nothing on her brother that was worth the effort it had taken to break into both of the places. What she had found however was a plethora of information on the reporter's personal life and the fact that she was sleeping with he papers owner, a fact that had given her another lead to follow. If nothing else panned out that evening she would be paying a visit to Julian Luna, a little black mail normally made people want to talk and if it didn't then Shayne could always turn her attention back to Catlin.

Leaning against a brick wall she thumbed through a phone book intent on finding the number to a good cab company Shayne stopped when she heard to roaring of an engine in front of her, and when she lifted her head she discovered a red head sitting there. Her first thought was that the girl was in despite need of a good conditioner or possibly a hair styling wand, then again Shayne felt she could think that since without constant supervision her own hair was a wild mass of tangled curls. However on a second look it appeared the red head was motioning for her and offering a helmet.

"Sorry my mother told me not to take ride from frizzy haired strangers." Shayne called snickering more to herself than anyone else.

"Your Zane's sister right," Sasha Luna called before she revved the engine. "Get on if you want to know what happened to your brother."

She was debating, on the one hand she had no idea who this woman was on the other hand she knew something that Shayne did and that meant for the time being she was her new best friend. "Yeah alright but don't try anything funny."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

They were looking for her and Sasha worried what would happen if they had found her. What would they have done or in the end would Shayne have ended up like she herself had. Hating every single moment of her life and the people in it, answering to a man that wanted to do nothing more than steal the throne that her Uncle had worked so hard to keep. No the self centered red head was for once doing something for someone other than herself. Once the other woman had gotten onto the motorcycle, Sasha pulled away from the curb and started down the darkened street looking back from time to time to make sure that they weren't being followed.

Once they had stopped she cut the engine and lifted herself from the seat looking around at their surroundings, she had only come here once with Zane but it had left a lasting impression not to mention it housed some of his most valuable possessions. His motorcycle, guitar, clothing, books, and other oddities that the Toreador had kept around. "Come on, I have a key since I think you've done a lot of breaking and entering for the night.'

"I know how to take care of my self," Shayne snapped thought she followed curious as to what such a run down little place could have that she might possibly want.

__________________________

"It's the beginning of the end Isaac I can feel it in my bones," Elizabeth started when she heard the soft footsteps behind her. "That's why I asked you to come here, I think it's time to call in that favor that you owe me." What a favor it was too, since her start in the business she had know Isaac was different, and then one night several years ago she had discovered how and why he was so very different. "I want to make sure that my baby is taken care of her, her mother and my daughter can be damned when I die."

Isaac nodded before he slowly moved to a chair and took a seat in front of the woman, even in age she still had a beautiful face and one that the world would mourn with her passing. "I take it that things have not improved?" It was a rhetorical question as he already knew the answer, you could smell the faint scent of death lingering in the room and he was certain that this night was going to be her last. "What is it that you want me to do exactly Elizabeth?"

Before she could answer the commotion at the door and the thudding of feet on the marble flooring interrupted her train of thought, and for a few moments Elizabeth was certain that it was Shayne. She had been wrong and that became apparent when the hulking figure of a man entered the room and looked around cautiously, his light blue eyes dancing with a sort of life that Elizabeth seldom saw amongst the undead. Years ago she had figured out that there wasn't something right with Isaac, he never aged, never grew old, and he never faced the same aliments and afflictions that she herself had faced. Then had come the night not that long ago with Ash Rivers, his over dose, and the truth behind Isaac's nature. In return for her silence Elizabeth had bought a favor from the old man and she had kept his secret as safe as she kept her own.

"Nines is something wrong," questioned Isaac, a worried expression crossing his brow.

"Alec needs to speak with you about something, he says it's important, it's about the Eastern invaders," Nines began before he stopped looking at the watery eyed woman. Isaac rose and turned to Elizabeth looking down at her.

"I will be back as soon as possible Lizzie, wait for me," he whispered surprised when she reached up and grasped his arm.

"I'll settle away our score with him Isaac," she stated looking toward the massive man still standing and looking out of place amongst her delicate furniture. "You have a seat."

________________________

"So what were you my brother's whore," Shayne asked as she combed through the boxes of things that littered the floor in the old storage unit. "You don't really look like his type but then again he might have just been slumming it."

Sasha prepared to strike before stopping herself, she knew she shouldn't and she could recall a time when she had been much the same way. "You have a real attitude problem you know that kid."

Kid? Lord she hated it when people called her that; it wasn't like she was a baby goat. "I don't have an attitude problem I'm brutally honest and if you can't handle that then maybe you need to hit the door and hop back on that cheap knock off bike that you rode in on," Shayne snapped in reply pulling the lid off a shoe box that looked rather new. "So let me ask you something, was he living here or is this just where he stored all his junk at?"

"He stored his junk here from what I can tell, I never went to his apartment but I know he had one," or at least Sasha had assumed that Lillie would put Zane up somewhere nice, after all he was her child and given the way she fawned over Grace. "What are you looking for?"

If she had known what she was looking for Shayne would have been more than glad to tell her but she didn't know, and so far everything that was there appeared to be caked with dust and dirty that might have been there since it's arrival. Finally she found it off to the side and in a corner like it had been hastily shoved there a shoebox that had no dust covering it and looked rather new given the condition of the other things. Sliding over and across several boxes, Shayne handed the light back to the red head and knelt down pulling the lid off the box. "By the way do you have a name?" She asked lifting an eyebrow even though her eyes never moved from the package that had opened. "Damn him."

Inside the box was a CD, a few songs that looked as if they needed to be put to music, keys to a motorcycle, and a necklace. The CD she would listen to later, the songs she wasn't sure what to do with, and the keys to the motorcycle made Shayne smile as she could recall when he had bought the thing and fixed it up no one thought he could get it running. The necklace on the other hand was a bit different, a solid gold guitar pick with the rose etched on the back of it and the words Zane printed in an elegant script. She tucked it into her pocket along with the keys before she stood and then looked around the room.

Sasha hadn't been able to make out what she was putting into her pocket, but she had watched in silence as Shayne un-covered the motorcycle and mounted it. Looking as if she had been riding all of her life or most of it, not that it would have surprised her. Moving over to the door she pulled it open a little wider so that the bike could be pushed out into the cool night air and that was when it hit her, a hand square across her jaw that sent her reeling back.

"Now Lorraine why did you go and do that," Shayne fumed as she looked over at the blonde and pouted slightly before giving a sinister sort of grin. "Help me get this out of here before that dumb bitch wakes up," she added and then rolled her eyes just because Zane had lived and San Francisco and she in Hollywood it didn't mean that her brother didn't tell her things or introduce her to his friends, and Shayne had formed a fast friendship with the blonde hair woman and in a since Lorraine had become like a sister to her. Well as much of one as she could handle as Shayne had the real problem of keeping people at a distance, not because of them but because she thought that she was cursed and with good reason.

The Gangrel looked down at the Brujah and was tempted to spit on her, but that was another story and one that she couldn't go into in front of Shayne. "She had it coming, let's go Shay they've been looking for you since the stunt with the reporter and I promised Cash I would find you."

"That bitch had it coming printing that bullshit article and if she's upset she got manhandled I've been to her place and trust me I could have done a lot worse," retorted Shayne though she was begrudgingly wheeling the bike out into the dim lit parking lot and sighing. "So who did I piss off or are people just genuinely concerned for my well being."_____________________

"Tea?" Elizabeth asked before letting out a chuckle. "I suppose not, from what Isaac tells me your kind has no use for things of that nature do they."

"No Ma'am," Nines Rodriguez was in a word uncomfortable but he was curious. "You said you could square away your deal with Isaac with me, how so?"

Elizabeth took her cup and settled back into her chair brushing a fallen strand of dyed brownish black hair out of her eyes. "You don't waste time do you," she leaned forward slightly and eyed him. "You see I know that you're like Isaac but you different, I can't put my finger on it."

"You know about the Kindred?"

"Oh yes very much so, it was no one's fault but I began to question things and then well when Isaac turned that River's boy I learned too much. I am however Mr. Rodriguez and old woman and killing me would have done nothing but leave my grandbabies with no anchor to cling too," she sipped her tea. "I've already lost one, he took his own life just like his father before him and that only leaves my son's daughter." Clearing her throat as she crossed one leg over the other Elizabeth looked on. "Tell me how it is that you can be the same and yet different"

Swallowing hard as she wrung his hands together slightly intimidated by the woman before him Nines shrugged his shoulders. "Isaac is Toreador, their artist, musicians, master manipulators," He started before he stopped. "I mean there is more to them than that but I doubt you would be interested in all of the small facts. Me on the other hand, I'm Brujah." Allowing himself to relax he looked up at her. "Most people think of us as the trash of the Kindred society, but we have a cause and we fight for the things that we believe in."

"I see," she got the bottom line of it and she was glad now she wasn't having this conversation with Isaac, it would have just ended badly. "Go on, I'm enjoying listening to you talk Mr. Rodriguez."

_____________________

The ride deeper into the city had taken them to The Haven, the swanky nightclub that Zane had enjoyed so much. Inwardly Shayne felt herself shutter, this wasn't her kind of place as she preferred a different environment and being there just made her feel as if she didn't belong. As they stopped and she dismounted the bike, Shayne looked around catching Lorraine's eye.

"How much trouble am I in?"

"Cash wants to talk to you before anyone else does, so wait here, don't run off, and most of all stay away from that red headed harlot," Lorraine replied as she pushed the door open and disappeared inside the club.


	3. Chapter Two

He was glad that Lorraine had found her and more so that she had managed to keep Shayne from coming in and spewing the normal vile that came from her mouth, after all the young Gangrel Primogen couldn't afford another upset as far as his clan or the Conclave were concerned. Now the matter at hand was talking to Shayne and trying to reason with her and stop whatever scheme she had come up with, were it anyone else Cash wouldn't have worried but the girl was like a dog with a bone and she was able to come up with plans that normally worked. Rising from his seat and grabbing his jacket from the barstool Cash took a careful look around the room and then started out the door into the cool night air. As she shrugged the jacket over his shoulder's Cash stood a few steps away from her and watched in silence. It was hard to imagine that any part of the woman in front of him had been related to Zane, in personality and in appearance they were both two very different people. Zane had been handsome, beautiful even, though most Toreador were. Shayne on the other hand stood at somewhere around five foot four if she was lucky, with a cute face though it wasn't as if she was going to Miss. America anytime soon she still managed to hold her own in the looks department.

"Don't stare at me I don't like it and while were on the subject of things I don't like, the next time you want to talk to me come yourself and don't send your friends to do your dirty work," Shayne offered, her arms folded over her chest as she sighed. Right about then she could use a fix, and the nineteen year old would have settled for any of her three vices be it nicotine, caffeine, or sex it didn't matter. "Before you start yelling she had it coming."

"I'm not yelling and I didn't say that she didn't have it coming, but you can't go around threatening people to get your way Shayne," Cash began feeling as if he had turned into the over protective big brother at least for an instance. "I know your upset and I know your hurt but that doesn't give you a right to act like a heathen." She narrowed her eyes before she laughed, chewing on her lower lip for a brief second before she laughed again.

"Heathen if you want me to act like a heathen and throw a tantrum I can do that, however I don't see why you have the right to question my actions. Zane was your friend Cash, before you got too big for your britches you came to visit Grandma with him and here you stand telling me to cool it." He had no right and really she thought he should have been more upset about the trash article.

It was then that Cash realized two things, the first being that he knew the truth about what had really happened and the second being that she did not. His biggest fear was so far unwarranted as Shayne seemed to still think the death was bizarre and unusual but she didn't see anything supernatural about it. Still he could feel the array of emotions radiating off of her, anger, sadness, confusion, she was at turmoil and at odds with everything including herself. He felt a good deal of sympathy and relief at the same time, it made her much easier to deal with her. "Come on let's go howl at the moon Shay-Shay, blow off some steam," Cash offered before he looked around still assured no one had noticed his leaving. For one night Julian could survive without him and tomorrow night he would assure the Prince that there was no threat to the Kindred.

_______________________

As the night had passed on Julian Luna had bigger things to worry about Eddie Fiori was making trouble once more and it looked as if the only option to be had would be war. He had no time to worry about trivial things such as a wayward teenager, but he was concerned that he had been too harsh on Catlin. It was why he had begun making plans to surprise her for her birthday, although as he was in the middle of those plans Julian hadn't been expecting Lillie to burst through the door wearing a Cheshire cat grin across her features. She thought that she had won, but she wasn't out of the woods yet in fact the recent information he had learned had him reeling and on the edge of simply snapping her neck.

"Did you embrace him to get me to pay attention to you Lillie," Julian questioned. "I have forgiven your past sins and in digressions because I have not always been there to keep you contented, however more and more I find that you have been sharpening your claws and aiming those talons in my direction."

"When my bed was empty Julian he filled it, when I was alone he comforted me, and when you ordered it I killed my own childe and left him to die with the first light of the sun as it rose in the sky." Lillie Langtry replied, her eyes red rimmed with tears that threatened to fall. "All of this while you tried to play puppet master to the humans in your life."

"Is this about Catlin?"

Lillie shook her head before she laughed, a finger running along the edge of the table as she looked up at him and sighed. "You're trying to play God Julian, with Catlin, just like you did Sasha. You see how that worked out now, she hates you, she hates Cash, and she hates what she's become." Her heart went out to the girl but Lillie saw the truth that sooner or later she would just erupt. "All because you wanted to keep them safe while at the same time you just pulled them more and more into our world." The deal with Eddie had been made, and at least this way Lillie was certain that she could mourn him rather than simply loosing him.

He shifted straightening his shoulders before he looked back at Lillie and then shook his head before he realized that he had hurt her, far more than he had ever hurt her before. "Throw your tantrum elsewhere Lillie; I have other matters to attend to." He went back to browsing through the magazine that was set out before him waving Lillie off and ignoring her presence.

She was outraged but not surprised in the least bit, Julian had been ignoring her since he had his first interview with Catlin and now it was escalating to the point she wondered if Eddie was right, did he want to be their Prince at all.

____________________________

He had taken her to the train tracks on a lapse of judgment but Cash had only been thinking about where they had gone when they were younger, before life and un-life had made them who they were right then and there at that point and time. For the most part his company seemed to be handling it well enough, she hadn't spoken yet and was staring off into space but she was taking it better than he had thought. Dropping down onto the ground and looking up at the sky Cash closed his eyes for a few moments to collect his thoughts, it was something that he so rarely got the chance to do lately and it was a welcomed change from the hustle and bustle of his nightly life.

"You need to go home you know that right."

Without bothering to look back Shayne shook her head and then laughed. "Yeah and what do I go home too Cash, Samantha called me about an hour before Lorraine found me. Grandma is dead, Grandpa died this spring and right now things between Mom and I aren't so hot." She sighed before raking her hand through her hair making the dark colored locks even wilder, as far as she was concerned at that moment and time there was nothing left for her in Hollywood.

Cash opened his eyes and looked up watching her shadow move as she paced back and forth. "So your planning on staying here," he should have known this was coming, she had been rude before but she had lacked that certain flare to her words. They didn't cut as deep and they didn't make you want to hide your head in shame. "Tell you what I'll make you a deal, you get back into school start college and I'll help you. I have a place you can stay at."

The bottom line was that her staying caused a problem; it would put her in the middle of clan warfare. What was he supposed to tell her though that she couldn't stay there and live her life just because he was worried about things he couldn't even explain; the minute it came out of his mouth he'd get a knee to the groined and smacked. If she was busy with college he could at least argue when a problem arouse with the Conclave, and it would, that she was bettering herself and away from what was going on behind those dark dank closed doors of Julian Luna's manor.

"Wow really and I bet you aren't going to charge me rent either, and I bet your even going to tell me that if I'm a good girl and I behave you'll get me a pony," Shayne answered and then shook her head. "Give me a break Cash, the college I'll look into but I don't want you offering up a place to stay if that's what I decide to do. You know how I am and I like to do things for myself," she added sitting down next to him before she grinned. "I blame my stubborn pride."

"Your pride isn't the only thing on you that's stubborn, but if that's what you want to do Shay then its fine. I will help you find a place though," somewhere safe and out of harms way so she didn't end up like Sasha, but he wasn't going to say that. "You know it might be kind of fun having you around."

Reaching over Shayne poked him in the center of the chest as she looked down. "Might be kind of fun to have me around huh, see there's just something about that I find to be a little insulting. I mean after all I am going to have to be putting up with you."

________________________

**Three Months Later  
**  
Classes had begun and Shayne found herself being busy during the day but having a lack of anything better to do at night, in fact most of her nights had been spent staring out of the window watching the city skyline and wondering what she was really doing there. Was it wise to hide from her problems somewhere else instead of simply dealing with them head on, she couldn't be certain but what she did know was that she had needed time to heal, time to adjust to the changes that had happened, and she really hadn't been finished with Catlin Bynes either. Her current company had the same problem with the woman that Shayne did, and apparently with a damn good reason too.

"She's not bothering is you," Ruth asked looking down as her young daughter crawled across the pristine floor toward the other woman cooing as she did so. "I mean I have a playpen in my car, I would hate for her to ruin something in here."

Shaking her head as she snapped back into reality or as close to reality as she would ever come Shayne smiled before leaning down lifting the little girl up. "She's not bothering me in the least bit, besides that you said you wanted to talk to me about Catlin Byrnes?" It was a different experience holding this baby since most of them cried the moment that Shayne got to close to them.

"Yeah I do, I mean I heard around campus that you've had a few run ins with her and I remember from when someone took Jesse what she was like. So willing to print and article about me being a monster, she said she wanted my side of the story but right in the middle of talking to me it was like she spaced out," she admitted, it felt good to finally have someone that she could talk to. "I read the article she printed about your brother."

"It was a fluff piece," Shayne commented settling Jesse down on the ground once more before she moved over to the over stuffed chair and dropped down into it. "What happened with your baby if you don't mind me asking, I wasn't living here at the time and right after I arrived I was going through a lot of personal issues."

Ruth Doyle leaned back in her seat and crossed one leg over the other as she launched into the story about the monster that stole her baby, how she and Detective. Kohanek had wondered the park the night of the full moon and then found Jesse hanging from a basket in a tree. Then she had gone on to explain the backlash to this as an article had been printed that talked about Ruth herself just wanting a cry for attention and creating the story about stealing her own child. As she spoke she cried the tears flowing freely down her cheeks but at the same time she smiled when Shayne offered her a Kleenex from a box on the coffee table.

"Since then I've wondered why on earth this woman had it out for me but when I went to ask her about it she told me it was a journalistic license and I should be glad that it would eventually all die down."

Rolling her eyes Shayne shifted her weight in the chair before she looked over, dark blue eyes narrowed as if she were thinking. "I think that's her excuse that it's a journalistic license when in reality she wasn't prepared for the job that she got in the first place. I mean she is the youngest City Editor in the history of the paper." The more she dug into the reporters past the more Shayne disliked her but thus far she had only been gathering information. "I'm glad that you got your baby back and I don't think you planned what happened, but I do think this reporter gave you a raw deal."

Ruth was just glad to hear someone else say that other than herself, she had no family, her friends had turned their backs on her, and up until this point the had felt as if she were nothing more than a waste of time and space but someone else believing her gave her a glimmer of hope.

_________________________

"Cash, your friend Shayne has asked to speak with me," Julian started; he was concerned about what she knew. Since Archons death things had been so calm and quiet, even with Cameron's presence at the Conclave table. "Now you told me that she didn't know anything about us are you still standing by that claim?"

"This has nothing to do with the Kindred; this has to do with Catlin. I told you that she wouldn't let go of what she did Julian and I can only monitor so much of what she does, but I know that Ruth Doyle has been to visit her which means that Shayne now knows about Goth in a since." Cash sighed as she looked across the desk at Julian. "Has Lillie talked to you yet?"

Julian Luna raised an eyebrow, his dark eyes clouded over; Lillie had said nothing to him in the last view days like she was hiding something. He should have of course known that was exactly what she was doing; hiding something from him, at least with Cash he would have a chance to deal with the problem before it tried to kill him. "No she hasn't, is there something I need to know about?"

Sure Lillie left this on his shoulders when she should have talked to Julian herself, but Cash wasn't surprised. "Frank Kohanek isn't the only one that's protected by Kindred law Julian," Cash began. "Apparently with the Kuei-Jin moving into Los Angeles the former Anarch leader, Alec, has died. They named a new leader, a Brujah who was embraced during the time of the Great Depression, Nines Rodriquez." He paused trying to figure out how to word what he wanted to say next and nothing aside from just blurting it out seemed to work. "He's marked her as his own, and I doubted the fact LA is the last of the Anarch Free States would matter to them Julian."

"You're certain about this Cash?" It could have simply been a rumor but Julian doubted it, since the arrival of the Eastern Kindred he had been hearing rumors about how war torn LA had become. Whispers about the Anarchs slowly being wiped out and the Camarilla being next, it had worried him that San Francisco would be next.

"Positive, Lillie got word from one of the Toreador that she knows there." then she suddenly forgotten to mention this to Julian. "There is also the matter of Sasha, her behavior has become erratic even more so than when Eddie was Primogen. She's going to have to be dealt with Julian."

_______________________

The shower was running, steam had filled the room, and after Ruth and Jesse had left Shayne had found the CD that belonged to Zane. Up until that moment and time she had forgotten all about it, but it seemed as good as time as any to pop it into the CD player and see what was on it as she was expecting nothing more than a few unreleased songs. The surprise came when there was crackling and a familiar voice filled the bathroom, causing Shayne to slip and slid into the nearest wall before she was able to steady herself.

"Looks like if you're listening to this Shay-Shay than what I figure is about to happen has already happened, you're probably pissed as hell about it and looking for answers. Good for you, but you'll never find them." The bastard was taunting her; even from the after life her brother was taunting and teasing her. Granted as the older brother she supposed that was his right to do and he had always done a really good job of making her skin crawl, he was a creepy little shit. Reaching out and turning the volume up as she adjusted the water to make sure it was piping hot, Shayne settled back into her shower and continued to listen. "Truth of the matter is that I gave up on the dream and I let those demons that I've always had drag me down. Like Grandma always told us you have a black dog and a white dog inside of you, which ever one you feed the most eventually eats the other. You thought you were the black dog but in truth it was me, you've always been the white dog, the good one doing exactly what you should. Even the car accident with the you worked so hard to safe her life and if you could have you would have given you own for hers, the only one that didn't see that was your mother."

It was the truth, possibly, at time Shayne had wondered if that car accident hadn't been her fault in someway but she had just been a kid. She wasn't drunk and she couldn't control the weather, no matter how much she wished that she could. However the fact that he hadn't blamed her gave her that sort of warm feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Don't give up like what I did, you have a whole future ahead of you. Believe me when I say that, I have a friend that's told me your star shines much brighter than mine ever has and someday you'll make a difference in a fight that you didn't even know you belonged too. I just hope that you don't forget me when this happens because no matter what I have and I always will love you and I'll always be proud of the things that you've done with your life. When the time comes though for you and darkness settled in on top of you embrace it, don't make my mistake and let those demons drag you down into oblivion. My time is up Shay-Shay just remember that I love you and no matter what I am always with you so long as you never forget." The talking had stopped and the CD switched over to Zane singing, leaving some sort of message in his lyrics that she couldn't figure out and it would probably be some time before Shayne could ever understand what they meant.

As she stepped out of the shower and wiped off the mirror she had to wonder if he really hadn't been on drugs again as what he said had made no sense toward the end, was it possible that he had really just walked out onto a train track and taken his own life? Was it something with their family that made them absolutely insane or just certain members? Either way as she pushed the thoughts from her mind she continued to get dressed thinking about what he planned on saying to Julian Luna. It was then that she recalled the small black velvet bag that she had tucked the necklace into; reaching over into the drawer of the sink she pulled it and slipped the chain over her head watching it fall around her neck.

This was a new beginning of sorts, Shayne could feel things shifting as if the dark cloud that she had worn on her slender shoulders much of her life was finally being lifted and tossed aside. Not that it did much to chance her position, her attitude, or the manner in which she said things; it just meant that she could now move about her business without feeling like she was going to sink sooner or later.


End file.
